[CrystalSteph]

I been having this issue for the longest. Well, since I was in high school. Now I am 23 years old and after having three years away from school due to personal reasons, I am in the process of heading back. But, I still don't know what I want to study! I guess I am over thinking it way too much.

I wanted to turn my hobbies into careers, being photography,art,craft making and I am realizing that I don't want to anymore. I will keep those as my hobbies perhaps if I can combine the two some way but in all reality I want to go back to school for something that actually requires a degree. My current major is Psychology but I honestly don't know what I want to do within it. And I am still working on my AA so I have a chance to change it just in case.

I like the fields Psychology, Education and Social Work. I like things like counseling, art therapy, therapy. I guess I want to study something where I can be an inspiration, still be creative and professional. Where I can make decent amount of money and still have time for my family, is that too much to ask for? I am willing to study and give it my all if only I knew what I wished to study. I thought Art Therapy, I honestly thought this was my ideal career, it involves two things I love Art and Psychology but when I read you need a masters and the career itself is not as in demand, I became doubtful.

I am someone that can be in computers for hours, enjoys thinking, helping others, creating, being inspiring but one down fall is that I am shy (this is something I am working on though) and my communication skills aren't the best so this does affect my decisions. But, I don't wish to have a career where I am always working alone and on the computer like I currently am now.

This is the time in my life, the early 20's where it's all about decision making so the decisions I make now will highly affect me in the future reason being why I stress this out so much. Most of my friends knew since high school they wanted to be nurses, in the criminal justice field.. and then here I am thinking about different things and not sure which path to take. And it frustrates me because right now I have all the opportunities, I am able to move around freely (recently moved to east coast) good schools here. Can someone please give me some suggestions, perhaps tell me your story ..

I'd appreciate it.

Hello CrystalSteph: You mentioned you may be over-thinking this. And that is possible. But, I want to congratulate you for giving your choice of careers so much thought. There is a sense in which one's choice of career is the biggest single decision one will ever make. It could, perhaps, be argued that the choice of a life partner is the most important one. But, either way, one's choice of career is right up there too.

I'm an older person at this point & no longer working. But, when I was young, I never really gave my choice of career much thought. One thing just lead to another & I ended up someplace I never would have imagined. If I had it to do over again, I'd wish to be more thoughtful, as you are being.

I do think it's important to look at what the demand is going to be for a particular career. Even though you may love doing a particular type of work, if the opportunities are limited, this may not be a good choice.

One caution I would offer is, try to select an educational path that actually qualifies you to do something in particular. In other words, don't just pursue a psychology or sociology degree, unless you plan to go on to get an advanced degree & become licensed. Back when I was in school, everyone said: just get a college education & you'll be set for life... So allot of us didn't really think too much about what it was we would actually do once we graduated. And, as a result, we came out of school not qualified to do much of anything. I still see this occurring too often today.

Best wishes... you're on the right track!

[CrystalSteph]

Originally Posted by The Skeezyks

Hello CrystalSteph: You mentioned you may be over-thinking this. And that is possible. But, I want to congratulate you for giving your choice of careers so much thought. There is a sense in which one's choice of career is the biggest single decision one will ever make. It could, perhaps, be argued that the choice of a life partner is the most important one. But, either way, one's choice of career is right up there too.

I'm an older person at this point & no longer working. But, when I was young, I never really gave my choice of career much thought. One thing just lead to another & I ended up someplace I never would have imagined. If I had it to do over again, I'd wish to be more thoughtful, as you are being.

I do think it's important to look at what the demand is going to be for a particular career. Even though you may love doing a particular type of work, if the opportunities are limited, this may not be a good choice.

One caution I would offer is, try to select an educational path that actually qualifies you to do something in particular. In other words, don't just pursue a psychology or sociology degree, unless you plan to go on to get an advanced degree & become licensed. Back when I was in school, everyone said: just get a college education & you'll be set for life... So allot of us didn't really think too much about what it was we would actually do once we graduated. And, as a result, we came out of school not qualified to do much of anything. I still see this occurring too often today.

Best wishes... you're on the right track!

Thank you so much for your positive feedback! I think the reason I am giving it so much thought is for that same exact reason you mentioned about choosing something that qualifies one to do work in particular. That's why when I think about Psychology, Social work etc I become lost because I am being vague about it rather than those choosing something in particular for example, physical therapist.

And on top of that, I am aiming for a bachelors degree so it makes it quite a bit for difficult to choose considering now a days most demands are asking for a masters or above. I guess, in the end I think about it so much because I want to feel motivated and go back to school knowing what I want to pursue. If I knew exactly what I wanted to do, I would do a lot of research on my free time,start a blog about it, volunteer and prepare myself. Perhaps, that's what I should be doing within all the fields I mentioned and dig deeper. Now to finally choose between fields..that's another decision,lol.

But, I will mention something I realized when I ask myself which fields I like, I think Psychology, Social work, Education, Therapy and I've come to notice that they all have something similar. Each strives to help other people. And that's something I would like to do, help others.

[Little Lulu]

Any chance nursing would be something you would be interested in? It fits a lot of your criteria - meaningful work, helping others, good job opportunities, good pay, etc. The hours can be flexible to fit family life. You don't have do to hospital work ... there are plenty of community nursing jobs.

[sickmonkey]

Back in the early '90s (when I was in college), an anasthaesiologist was making $200,000 a year. I have no idea how much they make now. But anyway, it's only a four year degree. If I had it to do all over again, that's what I would do. Money is not everything, but it's about 99% of it.

[CrystalSteph]

I almost thought about nursing but I don't see myself working with people and treating them like a nurse would. But, since you mentioned community jobs I will take a look at it maybe I can do nursing at a Children's hospital or something like that would be cool because I can probably still be creative.

Anathaesiologists, I believe still make a decent amount of money